A Heart Given In Turn
by Penguinlord352
Summary: A tribute to my all-time favorite anime. This is set many, many years after a certain train crash...


**This was totally spur of the moment. I just pounded this out without realizing what it was until halfway through. I still didn't name names, but it should be pretty damned obvious who is who in this without revealing them. Only one OC is involved.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is a tribute to my favorite anime of all time. While it may not be the best of them all, Angel Beats remains my favorite.**

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><p>The old man laying in the hospital bed looked up at the young woman who was his doctor as she entered the room humming a tune and bustled over to check his chart. The woman had long, silky bright orange hair.<p>

"Y'know…you remind me of someone I knew…" the old man croaked out. The woman smiled at him, her almost-amber-brown eyes fondly looking at her favorite long-term patient. Everyday she'd save him for last on her rounds and spend her break listening as he recounted one of many stories about the many people who were either doctors, involved in the medical profession somehow, or had orange hair like her own. Unfortunately, the man had some memory problems – though it was amazing he held onto so much despite them – so sometimes he'd spend weeks telling the same tale over and over again until he managed to get through it fully.

He never told the same one again once he'd told the story in full though, which was amazing considering they'd done this for two years now.

"Oh really? Tell me about them," she said, as she always did, before sitting down in the plastic chair beside the old man's bed.

"He was a doctor, with orange hair just like yours." That was new. It had never been a combination of the two-to-three common traits before. "Well, not yet at least…but to me, to **us**, he was one. The asshole saved my life, you know? Saved a lot of lives. Then he went and croaked on me, on **us**, right when the damned rescue crew showed up. Then he had the nerve to save my life again. My liver? It should say it on that fancy chart of yours. It ain't mine. Bastard gave me his liver. Signed the damned donation thing on his card right before he passed on, he did. Inspired the rest of us to hang on just that little bit longer with the knowledge that even if we died we'd save someone's life.

"We'd been in a train crash, see? The tunnel we were all in had collapsed and he was a pre-med student. Really ambitious guy – we were still in high school for Pete's sake! Anyways, we met for the first time when he hauled me out of the wreckage. He kept everyone calm, even when a few of us started dying on him…even when he just wanted to fall apart himself. I swore to myself I'd never forget him and what he'd done for me, for **us**, and I still haven't. I just wish I hadn't forgotten the bastard's name.

"See, because he gave me his liver, I couldn't drink anymore or even think about doing drugs. Figured out I had a bit of an alcohol problem as a result. I still never even touched a drop of the stuff even on my twenty-first birthday. Haven't to this very day. It ain't my liver to just use up like that, see. Another thing I did was track down all his organs and tell his story to everyone who got 'em. Only one I couldn't find was his heart. I know it went to some girl a few years younger then us, but I never got a name. Just a picture, you see. My kids found it in the attic earlier today and brought it by to ask who it was. They'd never seen it before. My wife, she'd known about it, but she's already gone.

"I told 'em that was the picture of the girl who had the heart of the greatest person I ever knew. They looked at me like I was crazy till I explained it all to them. See, when the first one was born my wife gave me an ultimatum – his heart or hers. I chose hers, obviously. The funny part is that the guy would've told me that I'd done more than enough already just trying to find even one of the other organs!"

The man pulled the picture out from under his pillow – where he really shouldn't have been keeping it – and held it out shakily to the doctor. She gasped as she snatched it from the old man's hands and stared at the picture with tears in her eyes.

"This…this is…but it can't be…no, this…" the doctor mumbled.

"What? Don't tell me it's your mother or something like that?" the old man jokingly asked, trying to lighten the orange-haired woman's mood with a joke. Or what he thought was a joke.

The picture was of a platinum blonde with almost-amber-brown eyes staring straight out of the picture without any expression of emotion on her face. The doctor wiped the tears away before they could fall and smiled at the old man, holding the picture out to him.

"No, no, I thought it might be for a moment. But I just remembered I have to go visit her today. Sorry to cut your story short. May I hear more about this great man tomorrow?" she asked as the old man tucked the old photo under his pillow again.

"Sure. Now I'm feeling a bit tired. I'll see you tomorrow doc," the old man yawned. He was asleep before the doctor was on her feet.

Two hours later, as she couldn't just leave in the while on shift, the young woman found herself standing before a grave in a cemetery.

"Hi mom. Guess what I found out today? I found out dad's name and why you always told me that he was sleeping somewhere we couldn't reach him and…and why you always used to say that you wished he'd had the chance to receive your heart from you just like he'd given you your heart. After that fire destroyed the hospital records the week of your release all those years ago I had given up hope on finding out how I was born. But I met a man today who had dad's liver. Dad saves his life at least three times. Well, I say met, but I've been treating him for around two years now. According to him, dad was studying to become a doctor…while he was still in high school. Can you believe that?

"I'm going to visit him next. I'll deliver your heart to him for you mom. That's a daughter's duty after all – to remind her parents that they love each other and that they have hard evidence of the fact. So, from here on, I'll ignore the scientific impossibility my birth represents and accept everything you used to tell me as fact. I'm so sorry I couldn't figure this out sooner. Maybe when you were still alive mom. Anyways, I hope you can find him up there in heaven – I have no doubt that's where he is after all. You know, since he's a hero. He actually received the title of 'doctor' in honor of his actions during the train accident that led to his death and your salvation. Here's a picture of him from an old newspaper – I used my coffee break to look him up. Got a few funny looks when I told my coworkers I was looking up my dad," the doctor chuckled. "Well, know that I still love you mom. No matter what I said the last time we spoke. I'm going to go see dad now, okay mom? I love you so much and I really wish that you were here mom."

Taking a few steps to the left, the woman chuckled even as tears began to stream down her face. Her dad was buried right next to her mom; or more accurately, it was the other way around. It was unbelievably hilarious to her that this had happened.

"Hi dad. I know we've never met, but I just know that you're my papa. My mom always used to complain about how she'd never gotten to give her heart to you in return so…" Carefully, the doctor set down a heart-shaped paperweight. "My mom really loved that paperweight. She said it was the closest thing she had to her first heart. It was probably a bit of a joke on her part since this is made of glass and her heart was really fragile and weak. The physical one, mind you. Gramps told me stories about mom's willpower up till he croaked.

"So, I met one of the people you saved today. Or rather about two years ago, but I only just found you now. I haven't been able to dig up any rock solid paperwork about it, but you had a heart that was donated and the records for it were lost in the hospital fire that my mom missed by only a day or so. The patients took priority and from what I found they all got out safely. That fire is actually what prevented the guy who tracked down the other people who got your organs from telling mom your story. He got your liver, and yes this is the guy I mentioned before. He's an old man now.

"I'm a doctor by the way; I specialize in trauma patients but I still do rounds like everyone else even if the patients aren't under my care. Gotta make sure no one dies due to someone missing something after all, not that I've found any such problems in the past five years since I started at the hospital I'm currently at. Good thing too, really wouldn't have found out about you otherwise. Well, I need to get home now dad. I have my own daughter to check up on and a husband to feed. I'll bring them by next time. Until then…just know that I'm proud to be able to tell people who both my parents are now. I love you…daddy." The woman stood up, wiping the two small tears away before they could fall and briskly left the cemetery.

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><p><strong>Review please. Or don't. I don't care. I just wanted to share this with all of you.<strong>


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